Over the past few years, Mzansi has seen a new wave of consciousness. Many individuals are becoming aware of our traditional African ideas and attempting to understand how they relate to contemporary life. Numerous celebrities have accepted their ancestral calling and the gift of ubungoma as a result of the wave. Some people have even gone as far as to start the adventure of becoming sangomas.
What is a Sangoma
In the Zulu, Swazi, Xhosa, and Ndebele traditions of southern Africa, sangomas are the traditional healers. They practice a holistic and symbolic kind of treatment that is rooted in the cultural notion that ancestors in the afterlife protect and guide the living. Sangomas are called to heal, and it is through them that ancestors from the afterlife can provide guidance and counsel for treating disease, societal strife, and spiritual challenges.
Sangomas play a variety of social and political functions in the community, including directing rituals, discovering cattle that have gone missing, defending warriors, battling witches, and presenting their culture’s history, cosmology, and mythologies. Sangomas also do several other tasks as well. In their society, where the disease is believed to be brought on by witchcraft, pollution (contact with impur objects or events), or the ancestors themselves either maliciously or through neglect if they are not respected, or to reveal a person’s calling to be a Sangoma they are highly revered and respected. The ancestors must be respected by ritual and animal sacrifice in order to maintain the harmony between the living and the dead, which is essential for a trouble-free life.
SA celebrities who are sangomas
Mondli Makhoba
Mondli Makhoba, who plays Nkosana Zulu in the television series The Wife, has chosen to heed a call to become a sangoma. In a recent interview on Podcast and Chill with MacG, Makhoba better known on The Wife as Bhut’ Omdala broke the news. In the telenovela, Mondli, who portrays the eldest Zulu brother, gave an explanation of how he became a sangoma. He stated that there were times in the past when his mind “would wander to a specific zone.” This, he claimed, only recently made sense. He was confused at the time and only recently discovered his ancestral calling. The father of five has more than 20 years of experience in the film industry and has been in soap operas including Umkhokha, Uzalo, and Imbewu The Seed. He is an author as well. When prompted to remark, Makhoba refused to divulge details of his journey. He said ” I’m not ready to talk about it, “.
Phelo Bala
Eight years ago, he answered the call. But South Africans were astonished to learn that singer-songwriter Phelo Bala had become a sangoma when he posted a photo of himself last week wearing his sangoma attire. Many people criticized him, saying that “Almost every celebrity has a calling to be a sangoma and it has become fashionable.” Speaking to media, Phelo said his calling is nothing new.“I’ve never hidden my gift. My calling is nothing new,” he says. “I have countless times spoken about it and shared my journey, the hardships, and what it means to me.”
Around 2014, the former Joyous Celebration member and youngest member of the singing Bala Brothers accepted his calling. “I was in Gqeberha for a funeral and after the funeral proceedings, I started to almost lose my mind, Phelo says. “I didn’t understand some of the things I was saying. I woke up the next day and some parts of my body were not working, and I was in a way. hallucinating. I was then taken for a consultation and that is when I found out about my calling,” he adds. “That is when everything started for me. It was a shock, but it kind of made sense.” Since then, he has had to learn a few things about his gift. “I’ve had to learn some things and understand that it is a gift and not a curse. It has not been easy. I needed to know myself, my culture, and my creator.”
Mlungisi Mathe
Mlungisi Mathe, who plays Emkay in Skeem Saam, is the next South African celebrity on the list of sangomas. The actor recently admitted in an interview that he followed his ancestral calling and is now a practicing sangoma. Mlungisi also indicated that the calling had always been there, even though he initially struggled to understand it and lacked instruction from someone who understood his situation. He began having dreams and visions when he was fifteen, which led him to his vocation. He also thinks that because his ancestors view it as disrespectful, prolonging the process stopped him from realizing his full potential in the business and perhaps in life. “The fact that I took time to accept it was a problem. A lot of things got ruined. When you take time to accept a calling, amadlozi think you’re being disrespectful.”
Zodwa Wabantu
The dancer and reality star is amongst the most recent celebrities to reveal on Instagram that she has accepted her ancestral calling. In 2021, Zodwa posted a picture that appeared to indicate that she was going to train as a healer. She later confirmed this on her social media accounts. When Zodwa Wabantu, a media personality, started uploading images of herself in a lake while wearing sangoma gear and shaving her head, her followers were astonished. She snapped a photo and uploaded it to social media with the description, “Nkosazana Yamanzi,” showing her clutching two horns and standing in a river wearing traditional sangoma attire.
She was aware of her uniqueness and that her emotional intelligence and street smarts were “superior,” but she never once dared to anticipate that she would be designated as a sangoma.“This is not something that I can say I knew about when I was a child,” she says. “I started having dreams in September 2020 and they just kept getting serious towards December, I knew they were not normal. I got dreams and get a message to visit home and get something from a tree. I dreamt of beads, something not everyone dreams of, even sangomas would do a lot for them to get a direct message like that. I then consulted with the sangoma that I often see for cleansings and consultations, and he put everything into perspective for me,” Zodwa adds.
Luyanda Potwana
Luyanda Potwana is Mzansi’s most popular television host. The list of SA celebrities who are sangomas is led by the TV personality who leads one of the most contentious reality shows in the nation, Nyan Nyan. Unlike many prominent celebrities, Luyanda has kept his calling and path hidden from the public eye. The road has not been without excitement or reward for him, though, as he recently announced that he will be taking it to the next level by receiving spiritual stripes and a crown. “I got some new spiritual stripes and crowns. IMVUMA-KUFA neNTAMBO ENKULU YOBUGQIRHA! Chosi Camagu!” Luyanda wrote proudly.
In a post shared on Facebook, Luyanda revealed how he performs his ancestral rituals. “You know me as a SA television host. However, this is a side of me that is unknown to the public. My ancestral spiritual calling. After all, I am my ancestors and my ancestors are me. I kept this away from social media, not because I was ashamed of it I just wanted to walk the journey quietly. However, it is now time to reintroduce me.”Some viewers first saw him wearing white beads around his neck on television multiple times a few months prior, which sparked speculation that he might be a sangoma. Izangoma, or individuals born with spiritual gifts, are the majority of wearers of the beads.
Zola Hashatsi
Actor Zola Hashatsi began his ancestral search after the terrible death of a close family member and earned a place on the list of SA celebrities who are sangomas. The actor talked candidly about how he believed he was guided to start the sacrificial path in subsequent conversations. “I think after my great-grandmother died in 2009, she became my ancestor and was always protecting me from evil things. I should have listened to the call in 2009, but I did not understand it… I still believe in the Lord, but I am a child of the soil,” said Zola. The pursuit of healing by famous people and regular people alike is always inspiring. Everyone has the potential to be given the ability to heal. ”I started embracing it more and more. I was honestly not surprised… I still believe in the Lord but I am a child of the soil”.
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